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Dance Better. Live Better.
Justin Wingenroth, Owner/Director
Ballet, Pointe, Conditioning, Jazz, Lyrical, Tap
Justin Wingenroth is a dance instructor with over 15 years of experience in teaching ballet, jazz, musical theater, lyrical and tap. While primarily teaching in Northern Westchester County, he has been a guest teacher throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, most notably as a Summer Intensive Guest Artist with Berks Ballet Theatre, in-studio workshops hosted by Man In Motion and mPower Workshops, and in conventions with the Greater New England Chapter of the National Association of Dance and Affiliated Arts.
Justin maintains and continually seeks out dance education certifications in order to create experiences in the studio for his students that reflect today’s pre-professional and professional dance training pedagogies. Justin is an ABTⓇ Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABTⓇ Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 of the ABTⓇ National Training Curriculum. He also holds certifications in Progressing Ballet Technique and in Perfect Form Physiotherapy’s Dance Teacher & Practitioner Training, Level One. Justin’s philosophy of training dancers is to provide them with the appropriately successive, and anatomically correct building blocks, setting students up to achieve greater things over time. The structure of his classes, based on a progressive curriculum, enables his dancers to explore and foster their ultimate potential.
As a professional, Justin appeared in the North American tour of Cats (Mr. Mistoffellees, Pouncival) and the National Tour of 42nd Street. He performed in regional theatres across the country in productions of The Music Man (Ensemble), Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (Ensemble), and The King and I (Simon of Legree). He has also performed with C. Eule Dance, Christopher Caines Dance Company, The Chase Brock Experience, Peconic Ballet Theatre, as well as appearances in various Nutcrackers throughout the region.
Justin is proud to share his education with the future generations of dancers in Westchester by providing a conservatory system unlike any other in the region.
Stephen Campanella
Ballet, Pointe
Stephen Campanella received his training at Princeton Ballet School, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s graduate program, and the San Francisco Ballet School summer intensive. He has danced numerous soloist and principal roles with American Repertory Ballet, New York Theatre Ballet, and Dances Patrelle, where he has performed works by choreographers including Arpino, Ashton, Limon, de Mille, Petipa, and Tudor, among others. He has taught at Princeton Ballet School and is an ABT® Certified Teacher in Primary through Level 7 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Rutgers College with a B.A. in history and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Erin Hunter Jennings
Modern, Jazz, Ballet
Erin Hunter Jennings recently moved upstate from Manhattan, where she resided and performed for 20 years. Having performed in film, television, and commercial work, her favorite is the stage. Erin performed in about 20 musicals, dancing leading roles such as Kristine in the National tour of A Chorus Line, Kim in Bye Bye Birdie, Louise in Carousel at Westchester Broadway Theater and Graziella in West Side Story at the famed La Scala opera House. She has danced all over NYC, ranging from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to galleries, parks and windows. She is thrilled to be teaching dance at The Dance Conservatory.
Hailing from Maryland, Erin first tasted modern dance with Pam Marcin/GT Dance and then at Bucknell University with Shellie Cash-Mueller and Danna Frangione. Since then, she has performed with companies such as Pilobolus, and those led by Olsi Gjeci (Sublime/Trisha Brown DC), Germaul Barnes (ViewsicEx/Bill T Jones), Anahid Sofian, & Caron Eule (C. Eule Dance). She is honored to also have performed choreography of Alvin Ailey, Doris Humphrey, Charles Moulton, Alwin Nikolais, and Jerome Robbins among others. Erin holds a Master’s Degree in Dance/Ed from NYU as well as 200 hr Yoga certification. Her work has been presented & positively mentioned at the World Financial Center, John Jay College, DTW and various showcases. She loves teaching and sharing her passion for dance and can be found dancing in the Hudson Valley, where she lives with her husband, two children, two bunnies and schnoodle puppy.
Nikki Milano
Ballet, Pointe
Nikki Croutch graduated with a BA in performance/teaching from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. Although she has studied many forms of dance throughout her career, her main passion has always been ballet. While studying at Mercyhurst, Nikki also danced professionally with Erie Contemporary Ballet Theatre for 4 years. ECBT performed locally and toured the northeast dancing in both original and classical repertoire. Upon graduation, she took a position at St. Paul's School where she truly fell in love with teaching and was able to develop her style while still performing. Nikki taught all levels of ballet, was the ballet mistress of the company, and eventually took over as the director of the program. She worked with renowned choreographers Paul Vasterling, Donlin Foreman, and Wes Chapman, to name a few, and had the privilege of helping to stage Balanchine works "Serenade" and "Valse Fantasied" through the Balanchine Trust.
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After 8 seasons with St. Paul's School, Nikki decided to move back home to New York where she continued her role as teacher and ballet mistress with a local school. She now lives in Fishkill with her husband and three children and is thrilled to be teaching ballet and pointe at The Dance Conservatory.
Jason Marquette
Tap, Broadway
Jason Marquette graduated with a BFA in Musical Theater from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Performance credits include the original cast of the 1st National Tour of the revival of 42nd Street, The Musical, theme parks and regional theaters all across the country. In 2008 he mounted his self-produced NYC production The Next Step. His direction and choreography has also been seen in the SUNY New Paltz Production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, Wittenberg University’s Fall Dance Concert, Working Mother Media’s annual NYC Worklife Congress Gala as well as music videos, corporate events and various showcases in New York and around the world. He is the owner/operator of Marquette Productions – The Dancer’s Music Source (www.marquetteproductions.com) and Managing Director of MPower Dance Workshops - Master Classes and Workshops that Mpassion, Mpower and Motivate (www.mpowerdance.com). MPower held their first NYC Summer Intensive this summer and will be holding Summer and Winter Intensives in the 2017-18 season!
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Mr. Marquette is also on the judging faculty with Spotlight Dance Cup and the All American Talent Awards. He has been teaching for over 24 years in cities all across the country as well as internationally in Helsinki, Finland; Guayaquil, Ecuador, Guatemala City as well as multiple cities in Alberta, Canada. He has taught at the DanceTeacherWeb Live Conference and Expo in Las Vegas for 6 years and appears on their website offering tutorials in Tap. In 2014, Jason taught at the first annual SoFlo Tap Festival in Lake Worth, FL and has most recently joined the faculty of Resonance, a northeastern US based travelling tap festival. He was on faculty at various studios in New York City including New Dance Group, The Peridance Capezio Center and Broadway Dance Center for 6 years teaching Tap and Theater Dance. He is currently on faculty teaching tap at the New York Film Academy, Battery Park Campus. His most recent project was choreographing The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in Reading, PA.
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“Make your own destiny. Fate is determined by determination.” – Jason Marquette
GUEST FACULTY
Chip Abbott
Jazz - Masterclass Series
Chip Abbott is a director, choreographer, and dancer who recently performed in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Broadway. Chip made his Broadway debut in On the Town and was assistant choreographer, dance captain and swing to the Emmy Award winning Joshua Bergasse (Tony Nominee 2015 for On the Town). 1st national tours: R+H’s Cinderella, Andy Blankenbuehler’s Joseph…Dreamcoat. NYC theatre: The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. TV/Film: The Tony Awards on CBS, Today Show, Avon’s “Boss Life,” British Vogue, and MAC Cosmetics. As a director Chip created Dance, Dance, Dance Heartbeat at Hershey Park, assistant director to Tony Yazbeck on the YoungArts Gala 2017 and choreographed Disney’s The Little Mermaid at Red Mountain Theatre. He is a member of guest facelty at Steps and Broadway Dance Center in New York City and has taught master classes in schools across the country including Oklahoma City University, the Boston Conservatory, and University of Central Oklahoma. Check out some of his work at www.chipabbott.com
Dot Armstrong
Modern - Masterclass Series, Summer Camp Intensive
Dorothy (Dot) Armstrong is graduate of the University of Iowa, holding dual degrees in Dance Performance (BFA) and English (BA) with a 200-hour Yoga Teaching certification. She studied under Melinda Myers, Jennifer Kayle, Charlotte Adams, Armando Duarte, Eloy Barragan, Kristin Marrs, Ellie Goudie-Averill, Mario Zambrano, Shi Pratt, Rennie Harris, and other esteemed teachers, artists, and choreographers at UI. She received additional training at the American Dance Festival, Movement Research, the Martha Graham School, and the Joffrey Ballet Chicago. Dot has danced in multiple works by faculty, graduate students, and undergrads shown at Space Place Theater, performed in the UI Summer Repertory Company, and toured schools, theaters, and museums across the Midwest with UI Dancers in Company for their 2015-2016 season. Dot developed the pre-ballet curriculum for ages 5-7 and taught ballet at the University of Iowa Youth Ballet. Additionally, Dot served as Vice President of the Undergraduate Dance Organization and participated in outreach programs with the Iowa Youth Writing Project to bring dance and poetry to disadvantaged populations in Iowa.
James Monroe Števko
Ballet - Musical Theatre
After discovering musical theater, James gave up trumpet for dance at 18. Before graduating college, he landed his first job at Milwaukee Ballet. He has since performed at: The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Rob Ashford’s Carousel as Enoch Snow Jr., The Muny, The Metropolitan Opera and The Lyric Opera of Chicago. He is currently performing in his off-Broadway debut as Mendl in The Fiddler on the Roof, performed entirely in Yiddish, directed by Oscar and Tony-award winner, Joel Grey, with original choreography by Jerome Robbins.
Mike Baerga
Contemporary - Masterclass Series
Mike Baerga (a native of Houston, Texas) started performing as a competitive gymnast. He retired after he won the National Tumbling and Trampoline Champion title of 2005, to pursue a career in dance after discovering break dancing and performing in his first big performance in Houston Grand Opera’s Aida. After Graduating with a BA from the University of Houston with a double major in Dance and Journalism, Mike trained at Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Joffrey Jazz & Contemporary, before pursuing a graduate degree from NYU: Tisch School of the Arts. After graduating with an MFA in Dance and Choreography, Mike went on to pursue a career in musical theatre, performing in Susan Stroman’s The Merry Widow at The Metropolitan Opera, Disney Cruise Line, West Side Story and Paper Mill’s broadway-bound revival of Can-Can.
He credits his first Horton teacher Harrison Guy in Houston for having a big impact on his career. His utilization of storytelling and acting within movement deeply impacted Mike as a performer and a movement and he is forever grateful. Mike’s university professors undergrad/grad also all had a huge impression on honing his technique and taking his raw talent and codifying it into a coherent physical voice. They aided Mike in exploring his body as a dancer and performer, and made it a mature and feasible tool for expression. Outside of performing, Mike is an avid foodie, and enjoys traveling and long walks on the beach.
Kelly Barber
Ballet, Pointe - Summer Camp Intensive
Kelly Barber is a native of Reading, PA and began studying ballet when she was nine at The Dance Academy of Berks Ballet. Four years later, she became a member of Berks Ballet Theatre and continued performing with the company through high school. Kelly attended summer programs at Burklyn Ballet Theatre, The Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Ballet.
In 1995, Kelly joined Ballet Theatre of Annapolis, under the direction of the late Edward Stewart, rising to the rank of Soloist. While in Annapolis, she danced in many classical and contemporary ballets including Swan Lake, Paquita, Dracula and Carmina Burana. In Swan Lake, Kelly shared the stage with Christine Dunham and Wes Chapman, former Principals with American Ballet Theatre. She also danced the role of Snow Queen in the Nutcracker, Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty and the Grand Pas de Deux from Le Corsaire.
After dancing in Annapolis, Kelly returned to Reading to teach at the Dance Academy and perform again with BBT. She was appointed Associate Director of the Company in 2006 and Artistic Director in 2007. Along with her job as Artistic Director of BBT, she is the Principle Teacher of the newly named Berks Ballet Theatre Conservatory of Dance teaching ballet and pointe to levels 1-7.
Michael Crawford
Ballet - Masterclass Series
Michael Crawford is from Takoma Park, Maryland. He began his dancing with the Maryland Youth Ballet and at the Kirov Academy with Vladmir Djoulahatze, spending summers at The Rock School and San Francisco Ballet. Mr. Crawford then moved on to the Washington Ballet where he performed with the company under the direction of Septime Webre. Upon graduation, he went on to study in the Professional Division of The Pacific Northwest Ballet under Kent Stowell and Francia Russell. After leaving PNB, he has danced with Dance Theatre of Harlem, Jose Mateo Ballet, Ballet Memphis, and American Repertory Ballet. He has been privileged to work alongside productions such as “Guys and Dolls", "West Side Story", "Show Boat", "Cats", and other musicals performing at The Kennedy Center, touring, and many other international stages. As well as Principal guesting with The Washington National Opera, Adam Miller Dance Project, Kinetic Dance Works, TranscenDance Group, Brooklyn Ballet, Ballet Neo, Connecticut Ballet, and Oakland Ballet. While signed with New York Model Management, Mr. Crawford had the honor to internationally campaign, and film "Step Up”.
Michael is also an award winning teacher and choreographer. He has been teaching and choreographing nationally and internationally for 10 years. He has coached many prize winning students for competitions such as Youth America Grand Prix, New York City Dance Alliance, and Showstoppers dance competition. He has also taught at many studios including Broadway Dance Center, Metropolitan School of the Arts, Princeton Ballet and many many more.
Jesse Factor
Modern
Jesse Factor is an MFA candidate in Dance/Choreography at the University of Iowa, holding a BFA in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. After receiving a scholarship to the Martha Graham School, Jesse performed with the Martha Graham Dance Company in the classic Graham repertoire as well as work by Robert Battle, Larry Keigwin, and Bulareyaung Pagarlava. Jesse served as Resident Director for the North American Touring production of Cats, and performed in the European Company of Cabaret. Recent work in Iowa includes a reconstruction of Graham’s Helios: Ritual to the Sun, and his own creative work, including Marthagany: The Spectre-acle, and Kween Kong. Jesse loves teaching and is a frequent guest faculty member at the Martha Graham School, International Schools Theater Association, and has taught at ACDA Central Conference, Forge Summer Dance Intensive at Slippery Rock University, Cornell College, the Iowa Dance Festival, Peridance Capezio Center, Rockford University, and Molloy College/CAP21. ​
Joni Michelle Lanza
Tap - Masterclass Series
After a very blessed Broadway career that included Thoroughly Modern Millie, 42nd Street Revival, and 5 seasons at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Joni Michelle Lanza is a mom of 3 young boys ages 10, 9, and 6. She’s moved from NYC to a maple farm in Garrison, NY to raise them. As a result of growing up in her Mom’s dance studio, her vast experience includes not only Broadway theater credits, but formal training at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, NYC, and dance training / teaching at all levels. When Joni isn’t busy with her sons, she’s working and performing with her own production company called Kentucky Girl Productions. Through this company, in conjunction with Lanza Family Foundation and the Hudson Hospitality Group, Joni continues to share her dedication and love of the arts and to help others. She has been producing benefit shows and outdoor music festivals to benefit Habitat for Humanity and Hope’s Door. Joni brings in talent from Nashville to NYC to provide high quality productions. This past summer, she performed her own music with a full orchestra at the Paramount Hudson Valley and at Lincoln Center in NYC with the world-renowned violinist, Daisy Jopling, to benefit the Daisy Jopling Foundation. This Foundation helps to further youth musical education outreach program. Most recently at the Hudson Room Stage in Peekskill, Joni produced an all-female vocal talent search called “Femme Fabulous” for scholarship awards that just finished on 2/14/2018.
Amos Machanic
Yoga Narada & Modern - Mid-Winter Intensive
Amos Machanic began his training in Miami, Florida at Miami's New World School of the Arts. He studied as a scholarship student at The Ailey School and was a member of Ailey II and The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1996-2011. In 2010 Mr. Machanic had the pleasure of performing at The White House in tribute to Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison. Currently, Mr. Machanic is a freelance artist and has had the pleasure of working with the Alvin Ailey arts in education program as a teaching artist and as a teacher at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center- Ailey Extension. He has also taught at the American Ballet Theater summer intensive program and at Ballet Academy East.
Jesse Obremski
Modern - Masterclass Series
Jesse Obremski, a native New Yorker described by DanceTabs as one “with fluent simplicity” and “quiet understanding”, trained at The Ailey School, LaGuardia High School, and The Juilliard School. Jesse, an Eagle Scout recipient, the Jadin Wong Dance Awardee (2016), and "Dancer to Watch" by Interview En L'air (2017), has also attended Springboard Danse Montreal, Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts (EMIA), and Jacob's Pillow's Contemporary Program.
Jesse has performed with Diversity of Dance Inc., Kate Weare Company, Brian Brooks Moving Company, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and is a principle dancer with the Limón Dance Company. Jesse has also performed works by Kyle Abraham, Nacho Duato, Martha Graham, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, and Paul Taylor amongst others.
Jesse has taught across Canada and America. His choreography has been presented at EMIA, Playscape 2016, Dixon Place, The Juilliard School’s Choreographic Honors Concert and has been commissioned by Zest Collective, SEAS Dance, and NOVA: Movement and Sound. Jesse has assisted in the restating of works by Clifton Brown, Jacqulyn Buglisi, José Limón, Earl Mosley, and Maxine Steinman.
Kimberly Schafer
Broadway - Masterclass Series, Summer Camp Intensive
Kimberly Schafer is an award winning NY Director and Choreographer. She received her Bachelor of Performing Arts in Dance Performance from Oklahoma City University. Recently she was the Dance Assistant for Tommy Tune and Chita Rivera for their US tour “Chita and Tune: Just in Time”. Also, she assisted Tommy Tune and Randy Skinner on the production of “Lady be Good” at City Center. She continues to work with Tommy Tune on all of his solo shows such as Ford’s Theatre, a performance for President Obama. She is the creative director for “Masq” a show at the off-broadway theatre, the Diamond Horseshoe. She was an associate choreographer for BROADWAY BARES 24-26 and DANCING ON A DREAM at The Duke Theatre in New York. Some of her regional choreography credits include ALL SHOOK UP, THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, SISTERS OF SWING, ON THE TOWN, SINGIN IN THE RAIN, CRAZY FOR YOU, and many more. She performed in BROADWAY BARES 17-25 produced by Jerry Mitchell, and EASTER BONNET at The Minskoff Theatre for Equity fights Aids. She teaches at Cap 21, BDC, Dance New Amsterdamn, Radio City Music Hall, Rosie’s Theater Kids, and various studios around the New York area. She has performed in several regional productions such as FUNNY GIRL, SINGIN IN THE RAIN, THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES, CABARET, VICTOR/VICTORIA, and the National Tour of 42ND STREET.
Jacob Taylor
Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary - Summer Camp Intensive
Jacob Taylor received his formative training at Boulder Ballet School and in the summer programs of American Ballet Theater, the School of American Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Kaatsbaan, and Perry Mansfield. Mr. Taylor is a graduate of the Ballet Performance Program at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. At IU his repertoire included ballets by George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Agnes de Mille, Dwight Rohden, Paul Taylor, and Twyla Tharp. In addition to Ballet Performance Taylor studied dance pedagogy at IU and was commissioned to choreograph the Opera Cendrillon for the music department. His professional career includes working with such companies as Boulder Ballet, Christopher Caines Dance, FJK Dance, Staten Island Ballet, and Thomas Ortiz Dance.
Belle Ritter
Modern, West African, Jazz - Summer Camp Intensive
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Belle Torres Ritter began her professional dance studies at the High School Of Performing Arts in 1983 (LaGuardia HS) where she received training in Classical Ballet and Modern Dance techniques (Graham, Horton and Limon). In addition, Belle has trained at the Bronx Dance Theater, Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Ballet Hispanico, Dance Theater of Harlem, Broadway Dance Center and Herbert Berghoff Studios in New York City. She continued to study at Purchase College Dance Conservatory, working with choreographers Kevin Wynn, Doug Verone and David Parsons. Belle was encouraged to work professionally taking a leave to perform within the United States and abroad.
Part of her professional career began after landing a contract with Atlantic Record, performing in numerous concerts, radio and television shows as a member of female trio, Sweet Sensation. Belle toured for ten years while completing her Bachelor’s degree at SUNY Purchase College. She later continued her education in Higher Education
Administration at CUNY, Baruch Graduate School while working as the Assistant
Director of Admissions at Purchase, SUNY.
Belle has always sought opportunities to merge her passion for dance, commitment to family and community with the importance of a well rounded education as a performing arts educator/instructor throughout NYC and Westchester. As she continues performing across the US and abroad, you can also find Belle sharing her heart and talents teaching at local schools and community organizations.
As a mother of 3 children, who are now in middle school and high school, inspired by her own family, students and colleagues, Belle moves - full force - dedicated to cultural inclusion, diversity and international interests within dance education.
Belle is a graduate of New York University Dance Education Master’s program. She continues as a licensed/certified NYS Teacher and visiting choreographer, in public schools throughout NYC and Westchester County.
Belle is fully dedicated to exposing students to dance as a medium for social justice, cultural inclusion and embodying the intrinsic value of developing understanding, creative and critical thinking within the performing arts.
Diina Tamm
Hip-Hop, Contemporary
Diina Tamm is a New York-based professional dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher. Originally from Tallinn, Estonia, she has been part of various dance shows in the USA, Estonia, Canada, Sweden, and Australia.
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Her credits include dancing for MTV with Liza Koshy, opening number of Macy's 91st Thanksgiving Day Parade, appearing as a dancer on several episodes of MTV TRL show, choreographing for New York Fashion Week, directing and choreographing various shows presented in New York City ("Rush Through"; “Reflection Spectrum”; “Kahn Islander” Studio 842 - Spring Collection Fashion Show) and an immersive performance “Tonality of Culture” at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Other credits include dancing in music videos by artists such as Icona Pop, Misterwives, Jennifair, etc. She has performed on various tv shows including “Good Morning America”, appeared on Estonian National Television and worked as a dancer and choreographer's assistant for a live broadcast on ABC.
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Diina has been one of the dancers and choreographers for one of Scandinavia's biggest show agencies Dance Factory, been cast in many shows on cruise ships (Viking Lines, Tallink-Silja), performed internationally in various theatrical productions and showcases (New York Fashion Week, Fuerza Bruta, Nuit Rose, Estado Ingravitto, Sette Mondi, SambaSalsa, Run The Night, Choreographer's Canvas, Young Choreographers Festival, etc.) and had the honor to work with amazing choreographers such as Nappytabs, Ryan Daniel Beck, Michael Blevins, James Jackson Jr, James Koroni, Floroan Fructuoso, Justin Boccitto, Derek Mitchell, Amanda Carlson, Ashlé Dawson, Lauren Blue, and many more.
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She has also added rollerdance and aerial arts to her performer skills. As a dance artist, Diina likes to tell a story through movement and is a strong believer that everybody can dance.
